I started with Computervision (RIP) in 1979 as a demo jock, and was involved in the CAD industry until Dec 2002 at which time I moved away from engineering. I was totally disillusioned.
The problem with the CAD vendors is that their first responsibility is to their shareholders and not to the customer. More gimmicks generate more sales, they all say they can do more than the competition and as a potential user you need XY and Z. As software has become more reliable, post sales support has improved, but your annual subscription is an easy way for the CAD vendors and VAR’s to generate a large income with little effort.
I totally agree with Dave. Most CAD users don’t need the sophistication that CAD vendors now offer. So the question is, why don’t they provide a stripped down, basic, low cost version of their product?
Simple, most of their sales would be for the simple product and they would not be able to generate income from training and telephone and internet support.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I am totally convinced that millions of man (or woman- hours) are wasted every year with all the senseless sketching that is mandated by almost all other MCAD programs. I still have to use AutoCAD in 2D at times and remember well the time I thought all the "contruction" line-drawing days were over. Little did I know that they would stick around well into the 2000s and beyond. In companies that have "gone with the flow" of sketch-type MCAD, I hear again and again the age-old saying "I'll just redline the drawing and let drafting take care of the rest." With IronCAD, the designers, engineers, AND draftspeople look forward to making an assembly or changing an existing design in 3D. As long as the non-users make the buying decisions, I see no major change in sight. Therefore, I believe the best strategy is to get the big shots to demo the programs. Yes, this may be a pipe dream, but boy, would companies save a small fortune if this were to happen!